Period symptoms no one talks about

[TammySwansonTwo]

Day 1 of my period today which is always horrific (double whammy of endometriosis and adenomyosis) and was just thinking about how many weird symptoms I think of as normal, because no one ever talks about them.

The main ones for me are javelin arse and the feeling that my vulva has run a marathon. Oh, and the fact that I had no idea periods were supposed to be red until after my first surgery - I thought I was bleeding to death.

So much isn’t talked about that many women put up with awful stuff for years, and illnesses like endometriosis take years to diagnose. I think we should talk about it more!

What are other people’s weird period symptoms that they believe(d) are normal / universal?

Raging PMT, I’m irritable, impatient, snappy, tearful, I’m either really angry and aggressive or really upset and sobbing. Even feel suicidal when it’s particularly bad.
Period poo, I have IBS and it flare around the time of period, either constipation and tapped wind, or the runs, or really soft.
Really sore boobs, they itch too.
Hot sweats, especially at night.
Stabbing pains in vagina and sometimes bum.
Extra horny.
Extra hungry.
Massive chocolate cravings.
Headaches.
Bloated stomach, my calves and thighs always puff up too.
Spots, usually on face, mostly chin and around nose but can also break out in a spot on bum, boob or anywhere else.
Gums bleed more.
Very clumsy.
Pains in thighs.
Generally hate the sight of myself more often then usual.

Another thing to add is that I usually get a bit of back ache and if I have a heavy long period them the next one is usually not as bad and much shorter

As I get older they frequency is all over the place, can go 6 weeks between then have 2 in a month

I've just gone through this with a sense of relief every month maybe about 10 days before I come on my periods are always diff and the cycles can be 28-35 days apart, I have the worst anxiety ever, irrational thoughts about stupid things like what if this what if that, it's horrible bizzare things that I do not need to worry about, period poo, leg cramps that will only ease if I eat a banana, extreme gas, fatigue during the day but I cannot sleep at night. Extremely horny to the point I could even fantasise about an affair which I'd never do it's horrible and it doesn't ease until maybe the 4th day of my period.

Another symptom is a general draining feeling in my uterus and lower pelvic area.
Period begins thereafter.

Buying a zebra print coat from Debenhams.

(It was returned unworn before the end of the week)

Oh yeah...lower back pain as a dull ache.

And feeling homicidal. As in full on Liam Neeson deadly force.

Bags under the eyes, and generally looking 10 years older.

Anxiety panic forgetting things dizzy on and off cant concentrate cant poo no interest in anything .Hot then cold feeling faint ooh the list goes on .

I feel hot then cold then hot again.
Tired.
Hunger i could eat enough for an army.
The feeling someone has stung my minge with a nettles.
Giving birth to a jellyfish (clots).
Itchy skin.
Stupid to high levels.
Can talk right get words out.
Leg pain.
And hate the fucking world.
I look different.
When i come on im a new person.

I get really clumsy and can literally pick something up and drop it three times in a row.

I get very sore pre-menstrual breasts, but, worse, I get chest pains. Always in the same place: slightly to the left of my sternum and feels like a couple of cm deep inside. It used to worry me; felt like I imagine angina to feel. But I tracked it, and it always appears in the days before my period and then goes. I think it must be some breast tissue, but it really feels like heart/chest pain.

I looked it up, and chest pain (that doesn't seem to be coming from your boobs) is a premenstrual symptom in some people.

I get period diarrhoea as well. And I immediately knew what javelin arse meant! I used to get an achy vulva when younger, but no more.

🤣🤣🤣🦓

Oh - and I always used to get huge spots on my chin that were about the size of a pea or a chickpea and were not squeezable, no matter how hard I tried.

I have since learnt that those were not spots, but cysts. It was cystic acne, and it turns out that you can have acne without it being everywhere. Just one big piece of cystic acne qualifies! Apparently you can go to a dermatologist and get it dissolved with an injection, but you'd have to get it done privately of course. No idea how much it would cost. Wish I'd known what it was and what the adequate treatment was decades ago. Would have saved me a ton of chin scars.

I have always had severe, intense pre-menstrual breast pain, which got a lot worse in perimenopause. Felt like my boobs were on fire and were about to burst. Lots of shooting pains, and painful aches so bad I couldn't focus on my work. When I walked around at home without a bra, I had to hold my boobs, and sometimes I had to wear a bra to bed because lying on my side was impossibly painful. In peri this would often last for two weeks. I'm still having the occasional period and sometimes it still happens, but I'm through the worst.

Very late in my reproductive life, I discovered the solution, and I'd like to share it here, because nothing else ever worked: Diclofenac gel, the 2.32% strength, available at Boots, brand name Voltarol. My doctor recommended it. It's an NSAID in gel form. You put it on your boobs, and the relief is incredible. Just ten mins later, they're blissfully numbed and your shoulders can relax at last. I'm PISSED OFF that I discovered this so late in life. Regular ibuprofen did virtually nothing, except dull the shooting pains very slightly. But after I put the gel on my impossibly painful, burning, aching chest, it was like heaven cracked open and I heard choirs of angels singing, such was the relief!

If anyone else suffers from painful pre-menstrual boobs, I can't recommend this gel enough. I wish so much that I had had it decades ago. 😡

Afew days before i come on i get awful stinging pain in my belly like ive eaten nettles, it knocks the sweat out of me.
I think its just me that gets it.
Also leg cramps lower back pain, brain fog to hot, sore boobs.
Migraine and sometimes a stinging feeling in my noonoo.